Failure to detect xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus in blood of individuals at high risk of blood-borne viral infections.
Barnes E., Flanagan P., Brown A., Robinson N., Brown H., McClure M., Oxenius A., Collier J., Weber J., Günthard HF., Hirschel B., Fidler S., Phillips R., Frater J.
A xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) has recently been reported in association with prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome, with a prevalence of up to 3.7% in the healthy population. We looked for XMRV in 230 patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 or hepatitis C infection. XMRV was undetectable in plasma or peripheral blood mononuclear cells by polymerase chain reaction targeting XMRV gag or env. T cell responses to XMRV Gag were undetectable in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by ex vivo gamma interferon enzyme-linked immunospot assay. In our cohorts, XMRV was not enriched in patients with blood-borne or sexually transmitted infections from the United Kingdom and Western Europe.